Bergamo

Bergamo rises where the Lombard plain meets the first hills of the Bergamo Alps. Its old core occupies the hill known as Città Alta, while lower streets spread across the plain. Roads linked the city with Milan and the Alpine passes.

Bergamo's earlier history included Roman Bergomum, a Lombard duchy and a medieval commune. In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries Guelph and Ghibelline factions competed for control, and rival families built towers and fortified residences.

Venice took control of Bergamo in 1428. To strengthen this western outpost of its mainland dominion, the republic built bastioned walls around the upper town between 1561 and 1588. The works transformed the city, requiring the demolition of buildings to make room for the new defences.